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My memery isnt that great. But my point is the same. this devise will only tell you youre fastest speed reached. It wont tell you about acceleration or where you hit that top speed. I may have went faster than I remember. But it was a pretty cool gadget just the same. Thanks Maurice.

Maurice put the gps on my Neon for hot laps this past saturday and it said my top speed was 72.8 mph.

Not sure what my lap time was, the scoreboard did not read when I crossed the line. Not sure who it was keeping track of as there was 4 of us on the track at the same time.

Last year when the gps was put on the 95 pony the top speed was 68 and change. I was about 3 or 4 mph higher top speed. Sure does not seem like we are going about 70 mph to me when we are on the track.

What did the faster classes turn???

Thanks_________________"Yogi"
2008 Springport Speedway Rookie of the Year
2008 Springport Speedway Track Champion
1st and only automatic pony in the 15's
Team Never Dead Racing Team Beacon
If you are not having fun while racing, Adjustments are definitely needed !!!!!

Todd my fastest time on an open night at springort was 18.68, 18.8 was with reg. tires and I passed tech that night too. I always thought there were two records so I kept track of both times, trei actually has the track record at spartan on a reg. night with a 16.212, my fastest time was 16.221 He has that record. Its a little off topic, i know. Just for a little insight I was hit with a radar gun at owosso coming down the front stretch, it said 106 mph, thats with owosso's old rules though.
-Jimmy

The reason I don't believe the 106 on Jimmy's car at Owosso is because Owosso and Springport are fairly close in size and speed and 106 is a lot more than 70 something.

The radar gun must have picked up a tree.

Yogi's speed with his Neon at Springport at 72.3 mph is much more believable. The path he takes around the track is about .366 miles long. He turns a 19.6 second lap. That would make his average speed around the track as 67.22 mph. He probably drops off to about 55 mph in the corners and accelerates up to 72 mph on the straights.

It's interesting to watch some of the Pony Stocks. You'll see some of them stay low coming off the corners. If they can do this and still get into the next corner at a reasonable speed, they are very hard to pass. This forces the other cars to take the second groove and travel further each lap.

If a car runs right on the bottom all the way around, it will travel .333 miles, or 1758 feet. If it travels all the way around the top, it will travel .380 miles, or 2006 feet. Nobody does either. They will be on the bottom in the corners and come out a little bit or a lot on the straightaway. Coming out to the wall on the straightaway and down to the bottom in the turns is .366 miles, or 1932 feet.

Staying on the bottom in the corners, but coming out just a little bit on the straights like some of the Ponies do would be about .350 miles, or 1848 feet. A car that has to run on the outside of one of these cars in the second groove would travel about .373 miles, or 1969 feet. That's a difference of 121 feet per lap!

Since Yogi's Neon is averaging 67.22 mph around the track, he is covering 98.5 feet per second. However, instead of being able to run on the bottom in the corners, he is running the second groove. He is covering 1969 feet instead of 1932 feet. The 37 additional feet he has to travel is mostly in the corners where he is running as slow as 55 mph but maybe averaging about 60 mph. That's 88 feet per second. That extra 37 feet takes an additional .42 seconds to cover which also makes his lap times that much slower.

So, let's say that Yogi's Neon can go 19.60 when it runs the preferred line. It will only go 20.02 when it has to run on the outside of another car. So, if a car can run 20 seconds flat, stay on the bottom and not travel out very far on the straightaway, it will be very hard to pass. That same car will also come off the corner nice and tight which prevents the faster car from getting a run and passing on the inside off the corner.

Another problem for these low powered cars is when you come off turn two and run way out wide, you are actually climbing a hill as you go from practically no banking on the bottom of the corner and climb up the 18 degree banking of the back straightaway. This slows you down. If you are already way out wide in turn two and follow the same line onto the back straight, you are up onto the 18 degree banking of the corner and still on the 18 degree banking of the back straight. No climbing going on there. That's why a car on the outside can maintain some momentuum while a car on the bottom and going way to the outside on the straight doesn't accelerate well. But a car that runs on the bottom in the corner and doesn't come out very wide on the straight will get going OK. The best line depends on the car and the driver, the total combination.

The front stretch is 9 degrees. So, coming off turn 4 is different than coming off turn 2. It's harder to keep the car from swinging out towards the wall when coming off turn 4. It's especially tough when a car is running the second groove and up onto the banking of the turn and then dropping off onto the straight. Although, if done right, it's like going downhill and accelerating can be improved there provided the track is sticking and the car is handling OK.

Just some food for thought for some of you Pony Stock drivers who are learning this year and would like some ideas for your driving and racing strategy.